The Reckoning
by Leefreak
Summary: I feel my jaw immediately lock as her words hit me like a knife. For a moment, I feel the darkness in me begin to waiver. I look at the scavenger. The Light-the purity in her eyes pouring back into me. It burns me to my core. I feel the Dark side immediately retaliate...
1. Chapter 1

Slowly I feel myself begin to regain my consciousness. The lights above me blur in and out of focus as I attempt to move my head and examine my surroundings. At first, it seemed useless. My body aches far too much and my head still feels too clouded to make sense of anything. Then I feel it. A pressure that suddenly fills my brain. It is painful. It feels as if my very soul is being torn and picked apart. But I use this pain and build up enough adrenaline to snap myself out of this catatonic state. My eyes snap open and my head now faces forward as I take a few shallow breaths, trying to collect myself. I see him then. Kylo-Ren. The masked creature who has brought me here. My heart begins to race as he turns his head to face me.

"W-where are my friends?" I ask, my voice is shaking.

"Those betraying, backstabbing people you call friends?" Kylo replies. "You'll be relieved to hear...I have no idea."

I'm still trembling from my forced unconscious state. I feel a burning sensation spread throughout my chest and I quickly realize how angry I am for letting myself end up in this predicament. I know he wants information about the map but I wasn't going to let him have it. I grind my teeth as I begin kicking and pulling against the restraints that hold me down. "I'll never tell you anything!" I scream out. "You Monster!"

Kylo chuckles as he watches me squirm. Abruptly I stop as I realize it's giving him some sort of satisfaction. I seethe as I watch him just sit there, staring back at me.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" He asks me, his head cocking a bit to the side. His laughter ceases and his tone is once again very serious.

It wasn't true. It was not in me to want to kill anyone but I'm angry so I spit back at him. "Well, that happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask!"

Now Kylo-Ren looks down and away from me. His gloved hands reach for each side of the mask that covers his face. As he pulls it off he rises out of his seat, standing a good few inches taller than me. I look at him now and I feel my heart ache as I look at his face. Suddenly I feel my anger wash away as it's replaced by an overwhelming sadness and confusion. I look over his smooth pale face before my eyes set on his own that are as dark as his curly hair. In this moment, as we look back at each other, I feel the slightest bit of insecurity that isn't my own but then it vanishes.

"How- ." I choke out. Now there are tears running down my face that I hadn't even felt well up. "How can you have so much hatred in your heart?"

I watch as his dark eyes narrow in on me as he quickly rises his hand level to my face. That same sharp pain and pressure return but this time it attacks my whole body, holding me complexly still. My eyes shoot over to him as I watch him slowly step towards me. My chest begins to rise and fall quickly as I struggle to breathe. The pain is so intense but I still attempt to fight it back. Beads of sweat now roll down my face along with my tears.

"You're afraid." He tells me as he now stands inches away from me. His breath brushing against my face. His hand is still raised, holding me, as he uses the Force to search through my mind. "You fear that if I can be so easily seduced by the Dark side then maybe you can be too."

I clench my eyes shut and rasp out: "Stop."

"You're so.. lonely." He continues. I hear him swallow as he tries to grasp this overpowering emotion of mine in it's entirely. I gasp out suddenly, as I feel him stretch out my childhood memories from my mind. I see myself back in the desert, slowly aging but where I sit is the same old metal hole that has become my home stays the same.

"So are you." I snap back at him. "But I don't need to be in your head to see that."

Kylo quickly twists his wrist and with that motion my head forcibly snaps to the side so I am now facing him. My eyes widened as I am forced to look into his dark ones.

"You feel sorry for me." His voice breaks slightly as he says this.

He cracks a side ways smile at the idea of anyone pitying someone as powerful as him. To him, my compassion is a sign of weakness.

"But there's more than that..." He says suddenly as I feel the Force dig deeper into my every thought and emotion. "You wonder if I feel the same as you."

I feel my breathing hitch as he now focuses once more.

"You wonder if I feel the same connection you feel between you and I." He stated, the middle of his forehead creasing. "If I would really kill you when you now second guess if you could kill me."

"I don't want to hurt anyone." I explain through each rapid breath I take. I feel my blood rush through my body as he says these things aloud. Though his words are true they still come as a shock to me, for I must have buried them deep inside myself. I fight to turn away from him but it is no use. Kylo stares at me for a moment.

"I can take anything I want from you." He reminds me. I can feel that these things that he is seeing within me are unnerving to him. He wants me to fear him but I do not. We are too connected with each other through the Force. I see too much of the real him to cower to Kylo-Ren. I see his own fears, his insecurities and sadness, just as he sees mine.

"I feel it too." He quietly admits to me, as if someone may be listening in on us. I feel his hold on me loosen just enough so I can finally take in full deeps breathes. Now I am no longer shaking from the pain and now the room grows silent before he speaks again. "The moment I felt your presence in the forest I knew you were powerful and that this power would allow you to see a part of me that I've spent so many years trying to forget. But still..." He stops for a moment and I swear I can see him choke back some sudden rush of emotion. "I am stronger than you." He says this to me slowly but firmly, as if trying to make sure I understand this. "You let this connection we share through the Force weaken you. I can feel it, all of this power and you still hesitate to fight me back. Unfortunately for you... " He pauses briefly and snaps his tongue as he considers his next sentence. "I am not not afraid to use this to my advantage."

Kylo stands straight and looks at me intensely. His hand again launches forward and immediately my body strains once more but this time he is not holding back. I cry out as I am lifted up against the restraints. They are the only things that are keeping me from being hurled through the metal ceiling above us.

"Tell me what you know about the map." He demands. His voice comes out sounding like a low growl. He is angry. He is through with waiting around.

"I won't!" I scream back at him.

Then he grinds his teeth together. "Very well then" he says.

I feel him again, inside my head. This time he is not at all careful with any memory, thought or emotion that he searches through. It feels as if a million knives are being jammed into my skull. I throw my head back and scream.

"Each night you have the same dream." He yells back too me over my cries. "You're waiting for your family but you know they're never coming back, but still you sit in the desert waiting. You are alone and deep down you fear you'll die with your loneliness."

He has dug deep into my most sacred and painful emotions, using our connection to to each other to find them. I feel his power open them up like an old wound before he even begins to say them aloud. He is trying to make me vulnerable. He wants me to crack and let down my defenses. It doesn't work and I feel him growing even more furious. He pushes forward again there is sweat now covering my body. I look back into at him as he causing me this excruciating pain. I feel my heart beat fast as I begin to clear my mind and focus as I feel my own power pour out of me and knock into him.

He stumbles back slightly but he is still trying to search through my mind as I push his power back out of it. It only takes a moment but now I am also in his head.

"You're afraid, Ben." I say to him, mimicking the same too serious tone he had used with me. He tenses at the sound of his name. "You fear that I could be more powerful than you...and even worse...you fear you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"

I release him and I watch as he collapses to his knees on the floor of the ship. His hands reach the door frame to hold himself up as he takes a few deep breathes. I have been inside his head and have felt his dreams and fears as if they are my own. The darkness that I felt inside of him suddenly envelops me in a cold grasp. Immediately, I feel an evil that I've never known fill me then just as quickly vanishes. It leaves me feeling low and a flash anger washes over me.

It only lasts for a few I know that for Kylo, this darkness has become his whole life. He knows I've felt it. I can feel the frustration radiate off of him as he realizes that I too have felt the Dark Side through him. I am the one who has made him feel vulnerable.

Kylo moves his body to face the door, refusing to look at me.

"If you don't tell me what you know about the map when I return, you are dead." He growls out before punching a dent in the metal wall before stalking away. The door quickly closes behind him, leaving me again alone in the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

I awake again but this time time I am in a forest. My back and head ache as I remember being hurled backward into a large oak tree. My memory returns to me slowly but still my mind is foggy. Slowly I rise my head from the snow covered earth. I should be freezing but my heart begins beating too fast to feel the cold. I look forward and see Kylo standing a few feet away from me. There is something unmoving at his feet. I squint my eyes in the darkness and quickly realize it's FIn, laying there unconscious.

"What have you done?" I scream out at him, slamming my fisted hand into the ground. I'm suddenly very afraid that my friend is dead.

He finally looks up from Fin and back at me. He is taking short deep breathes as he watches me like a rabid animal, his teeth showing as he seethes and his dark eyes filled with what seemed to be some kind of animalistic hunger.

"I'm finishing this!" He yells back to me.

I immediately jump back up on my feet but then I am immobilized. I quickly realize I am without a weapon as he now withdraws his own red lightsaber. He is stepping towards me, taking in my frightened stare as I begin to back away into a large tree. For a moment I begin to think that I might actually die. But this fear quickly vanishes when I remember Fin. He could still be alive. No matter how defeated I may feel, I know that I must at least try for him.

Then it hits me.

The blue lightsaber.

Kylo is only a couple steps away from me when I decide to make the move to duck and roll out of his way. I don't realize until I look back and see the scorched tree that he was inches away from taking my head off. I feel his body and mind tense and I know he is now aware of what I am doing. I am running towards the light saber and am so close, but now he is using his own power to send it flying through the air towards him. I too, reach out for it with my mind and to my surprise it stops just before it can reach Kylo's grasp. I lift up my open hand and the lightsaber is now hurtling towards me, going straight into my palm. I feel a small smile dance at the corner of my lips as I power it on and marvel at the glowing blue. It feels so right to hold it. It suddenly feels so empowering to know I am with the Light Side. I look back at Kylo. He is furious with not only me but with himself.

"Fight me!" He demands. I watch as he brings his fisted hand to his side, hitting his rib cage with as much force as he can. Blood trickles from him and colors the snow below him red. His heart keeps pounding harder and faster as he continues to lose more blood. It gives him pain and fuels him with anger and adrenaline.

I take my stance and hold the glowing weapon in front of me. I wait for Kylo to make the first move and it doesn't take long. Before I know it he is inches in front of me and his saber now clashes with mine. I stumble backwards, taken back by his physical strength. But I just as quickly push forward and am able to get him far enough for me to try and slice his leg just enough to stop him. He blocks the hit but I quickly jump back before he can try to take a jab at me.

KYLO'S POV

I swing my weapon at her torso but she quickly jumps back just enough for it to miss her. She is faster than me, as I struggle to breathe. I'm losing so much blood. I feel like a I may wither away to nothing. Still, I use this physical pain to drive me to keep up the fight. I am determined to not let this scavenger girl best me. Not after all she has done.

I rush forward and bring my saber over my head to crash it down against the blue saber. Rey falls backward against the blow, landing on her back. I move to stand beside her as I watch her groan in pain. Though I try, I can not reach inside her mind as easily as I once did. I feel a mental wall that she has built from her anger toward me. I can only see her strongest emotions at this moment, nothing tucked deep within her subconscious. Her main concern is for her friend. The traitor who I had left for dead only a few feet away from us. I catch her glance over his way. She wonders if I've killed him. I move my red sabar to my side and power it off. For a split second, the girl watches me with confusion. Though her own light saber is deactivated, she holds it firmly to her chest, waiting for my next move. I bend down slowly, crouching beside her.

"You need a teacher." I tell her simply. "Someone who can show you how to use the Force probably."

"What will you teach me?" She spits out. "How to destroy lives, create chaos...kill my own Father..."

I feel my jaw immediately lock as her words hit me like a knife. For a moment, I feel the darkness in me begin to waiver. I look at the scavenger. The Light-the purity in her eyes pouring back into me. It burns me to my core. I feel the Dark side immediately retaliate.

 _You are Kylo-Ren_

 _You killed Han Solo_

 _This is who you are_

The voices hiss at me. I feel the darkness quickly move through me to reclaim my mind, to take back what is there's from the light that is now burning like a tiny flame inside me. I think of Han and the look on his face before he fell. As this image flashes through my mind I hear the voices laugh in amusement as another, much smaller part of me screams in agony.

REY'S POV

I watch in confusion as Kylo begins to tremble in front of me. I fight to search his mind but when I try to get in, I am forcefully pushed back out. I gasp when I feel the darkness in him touch me. It's cold hands leaving a terrifying mark.

"Stop." He growls under his breath as clenches his eyes shut.

For a split second, I think he is talking to me. Demanding I stay out of his head, but he is not looking at me. His eyes seemed glazed over as he looks ahead. Past me and over into the trees.

"I-I don't understand." I say to him honestly.

I watch as he brings his hands to his hair to dig his fingers into his skull. I imagine if not for the sudden mental block between us that I would feel his seemingly unbearable pain. I slowly rise up, half expecting him to stab me in the back the second I walk away. He doesn't. Instead he continues with his internal battle as I quickly rush over to Finn. He is still unconscious. I immediately check for a pulse, moving my finger over his neck. To my relief, I feel his blood pumping underneath my finger.

"Oh thank God, you brave idiot." I let out a small laugh, overwhelmed with relief.

I begin to try to move Finn over my shoulders. He is so heavy but I think I can at least get us out of the forest. I lift him but I am frozen in place when I hear Kylo scream out. My head snaps back around at the sound and I suddenly feel conflicted as I watch him. He is still bent over in agony. I glance back at Finn. He would kill me for what I am about to do.

"Forgive me."

With that, I gently place Finn back down and rush back to Kylo. I crouch in front of him. As I look at him I am reminded of the way I felt in the interrogation room. The Dark Side of the force searching through me so brutally. I'll never forget that pain. I recognize it in his face.

KYLO'S POV

"Kylo?" I hear her say shakily. "Ben?"

 _Ben is pathetic_

 _He died with Han Solo_

 _Kylo is who you are_

The darkness that surges through me is powerful as it battles to keep me in line. I feel Rey, trying so hard to push through it to get inside my head but she fails.

REY'S POV

I feel something. A sudden switch that has been flipped. It changes the air around us. I look around the forest and somehow it seems everything has grown darker in the already black forest.

I look back at Kylo and immediately notice the change in his eyes.

They are dark, cold and again filled with rage. He is no longer shaking and I no longer see that he is in any pain.

I scream when I feel his hand quickly snatch for my neck. He holds me as he begins to stand, lifting me up with him.

"My name is Kylo-Ren." He tells me slowly. His voice is low and firm. Though his grip on my throat is tight I still manage to rasp out:

"You don't want to hurt me." I warn him. "I can help you."

KYLO'S POV

 _She lies_

 _No one will help you now_

 _Han's death sealed your fate_

 _No one will accept you_

 _No one but the Dark Side_

The voices all talk at once. It feels as if my head may explode.

"Liar!" I scream back, before throwing Rey backward. I feel him. Kylo-Ren beginning to resurface. Any hope in me, that for a moment flickered inside now burns out. I hear the voices snicker as they vanish back into the corners of my mind.

I see the girl, already back on her feet as she activates her Lightsaber. This time it is her who charges forward, crashing her weapon against mine.

REY'S POV

My blood is rushing through me as I repeatedly smash my sabar against his. I feel the Force fully within me. Guiding me. Helping me anticipate Kylo's every move. He is taken aback by this as he continues to stagger backward. I finally hit him so hard that he lowers his weapon to catch himself from falling. I take the opportunity to slice up the side of his leg. As my sabar goes up, the tip goes against his face. I hear him scream out as his free hand reaches to touch the wound. I quickly rush forward and grab each of his wrists. I push down the arm that holds his weapon.

KYLO'S POV

My sabar breaks against the freezing ground, the girl is driving it into. I grind my teeth together as I watch this small girl overpower me. It is evident that the Force is very strong with her.

Without my weapon I am almost defenseless. As soon as I even think to also use the Force against Rey, she has already kicked me back on the ground. Now it is she who stands beside me. For a moment we just look at each other as we try to catch our breaths. If I wasn't so caught off guard by her strength, both mentally and physically, I might have stood to attack once more but I don't. I am spellbound by her power.

"Well...what are you waiting for? Kill me." I say to to her fiercely. Her light saber still shines it's brilliant blue into the darkness.

She suddenly gives me a look that I never expected to see from her. Her eyes narrowing on me as her upper lip rolls over her teeth.

"Maybe I should kill you." She says lowley. "End this all right here. Right now."

She tips the weapon level to my neck. I let out a weak laugh at her attempt to be threatening.

REY'S POV

"You wouldn't dare." He says back to me. His face is covered in dripping blood from the cut my sabar made when it went across his forehead to the bottom of his cheek. He doesn't move to wipe it off, instead he lets it roll down to his chin, where it drips onto the snow.

"And why not?" I seeth. "I'd be doing everyone a favor."

He smirks. "You plan on training to be a Jedi, is that it?"

I stay silent, still holding my weapon to his throat.

"You better rethink your methods, scavenger." He continues. "These emotions you feel-the hatred the anger and the yearning for vengeance. That's not a Jedi."

He grits his teeth before he continues on bitterly. "They take all your emotions away from you. You'll be reduced to nothing. You'll become numb and be void of anything worth living for."

"Is that your excuse for all of this then?" I say back angrily. "Because it's shit."

"What's your excuse?" He shoots back. "You think you're any better than me holding that weapon to my throat?"

Suddenly I realize just how easy it would be to push my arm forward and end Kylo Ren. I feel my anger rush through me as my blood races.

 _This isn't right_.

Quickly I recoil from the thought and deactivate my weapon, not giving into the Dark Side.

"I do not want to kill you." I say. "Not if I don't have to.

I sigh and under my breath I say quietly. "But you already know that..."

"What is it that you want then? Because as long as I'm around the First Order will keep fighting. I'll be sure of that."

"I want to bring you home-for Leia."

"Why?" He scoffs. "So I can tell her in person of how I killed her husband."

"Your Father."

"No." He corrects firmly. "He wasn't my Father. A Father doesn't send his only son away at seven to train for twenty years on an island."

"To make you a Jedi-"

"To make me what they wanted me to be!" He screams at me. For a moment, I swear I feel the earth beneath my feet shake, as Kylo's voice breaks through the cold crisp air.

KYLO'S POV

For a moment I wonder if it is the anger within me that causes the world around me to tremble, but I soon realize it is the earth quaking beneath me.

I brace myself, digging my fingers through the snow into the hard dirt as it shakes. Rey begins to fall back but she quickly catches herself against the bark of a tree.

I look to her and she looks back at me. Our expressions both filled with panic and confusion. Though we are silent, we are asking what exactly is happening. Neither of us has the answer.

A loud crackling sound erupts into the air and now the shaking becomes almost violent as I watch the ground split the land into two. It driving a perfect wedge between Rey and I. I am breathing heavily as I pull myself against the ground, away from the cliff. The cold has seemed to numb my wounds because I no longer feel any pain as I pull my body weight. Or maybe it's because I've lost so much blood. Suddenly it occurs to me that I might be dying.

A strange feeling washes over me as the idea swirls around in my head. The earth is still moving as it separates. It leaves a deep black scar that I doubt anyone would know where it ends unless they were to fall into it.

I hear her in the distance. She is calling for her friend. "Finn" is what he calls himself now.

For only a moment I look up into the dark sky. The stars and planets above me are spinning. That strange feeling that swept through me returns and it is warm and inviting.

The lights in the sky fade and darkness begins to cloud my vision.

I'm numb. I'm weak. I'm slipping.

But I can still see her in my mind. The scavenger. She follows quickly behind Chewie, who is now carrying the traitor in his arms to the Millennium Falcon.

I am alone for what seems like hours until the stormtroopers find me covered in a dusting of snow. As they carry me onto the ship I black out from the lose of blood.

I sleep for days. That is what they tell me.

When I awake I am distraught, as I recall my dreams of Han Solo.


End file.
